Journal ArticleDOI
A Synthesis of Progress and Uncertainties in Attributing the Sources of Mercury in Deposition
Steve E. Lindberg,Russell Bullock,Ralf Ebinghaus,Daniel R. Engstrom,Xinbin Feng,William F. Fitzgerald,Nicola Pirrone,Eric M. Prestbo,Christian Seigneur +8 more
Reads0
Chats0
TLDR
It is agreed that the uncertainty is strongly dependent upon scale and that the question as stated is answerable with greater confidence both very near and very far from major point sources, assuming that the “global pool” is a recognizable “source.”Abstract:
A panel of international experts was convened in Madison, Wisconsin, in 2005, as part of the 8th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant. Our charge was to address the state of science pertinent to source attribution, specifically our key question was: "For a given location, can we ascertain with confidence the relative contributions of local, regional, and global sources, and of natural versus anthropogenic emissions to mercury deposition?" The panel synthesized new research pertinent to this question published over the past decade, with emphasis on four major research topics: long-term anthropogenic change, current emission and deposition trends, chemical transformations and cycling, and modeling and uncertainty. Within each topic, the panel drew a series of conclusions, which are presented in this paper. These conclusions led us to concur that the answer to our question is a "qualified yes," with the qualification being dependent upon the level of uncertainty one is willing to accept. We agreed that the uncertainty is strongly dependent upon scale and that our question as stated is answerable with greater confidence both very near and very far from major point sources, assuming that the "global pool" is a recognizable "source." Many regions of interest from an ecosystem-exposure standpoint lie in between, where source attribution carries the greatest degree of uncertainty.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Mercury as a Global Pollutant: Sources, Pathways, and Effects
TL;DR: Understanding of sources, atmosphere-land-ocean Hg dynamics and health effects are synthesized, and integration of Hg science with national and international policy efforts is needed to target efforts and evaluate efficacy.
Journal ArticleDOI
Global mercury emissions to the atmosphere from anthropogenic and natural sources
Nicola Pirrone,Sergio Cinnirella,Xinbin Feng,R. B. Finkelman,Hans R. Friedli,Joy J. Leaner,Robert P. Mason,Arun B. Mukherjee,Glenn B. Stracher,David G. Streets,Kevin Telmer +10 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provided an up-to-date assessment of global mercury emissions from anthropogenic and natural sources, including re-emission processes and primary emissions from natural reservoirs.
Journal ArticleDOI
Global Biogeochemical Cycling of Mercury: A Review
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors studied uncertainty in the global biogeochemical cycle of mercury, including oxidation processes in the atmosphere, land atmosphere and ocean-atmosphere cycling.
Journal ArticleDOI
Mechanisms Regulating Mercury Bioavailability for Methylating Microorganisms in the Aquatic Environment: A Critical Review
TL;DR: This Review evaluates the current state of knowledge regarding the mechanisms regulating microbial mercury methylation, including the speciation of mercury in environments where methylation occurs and the processes that control mercury bioavailability to these organisms.
Journal ArticleDOI
Whole-ecosystem study shows rapid fish-mercury response to changes in mercury deposition
R. Harris,John W. M. Rudd,Marc Amyot,Christopher L. Babiarz,Ken G. Beaty,Paul J. Blanchfield,R.A. Bodaly,Brian A. Branfireun,Cynthia C. Gilmour,Jennifer A. Graydon,Andrew Heyes,Holger Hintelmann,James P. Hurley,Carol A. Kelly,David P. Krabbenhoft,Steve E. Lindberg,Robert P. Mason,Michael J. Paterson,Cheryl L. Podemski,Art Robinson,Ken A. Sandilands,George R. Southworth,Vincent L. St. Louis,Michael T. Tate +23 more
TL;DR: Mercury emissions reductions will yield rapid (years) reductions in fish methylmercury concentrations and will yield concomitant reductions in risk, however, a full response will be delayed by the gradual export of mercury stored in watersheds.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Modern and historic atmospheric mercury fluxes in both hemispheres: Global and regional mercury cycling implications
Carl H. Lamborg,William F. Fitzgerald,A. W. H. Damman,Janina M. Benoit,Prentiss H. Balcom,Daniel R. Engstrom +5 more
TL;DR: In this article, the atmospheric deposition of mercury (Hg) over the last 800-1000 years in both hemispheres was reconstructed using two different natural archiving media from remote locations.
Journal ArticleDOI
Global circulation of atmospheric mercury: a modelling study
Ashu Dastoor,Yvan Larocque +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a comprehensive atmospheric global and regional mercury model and its capability in describing the atmospheric cycling of mercury, which can be used to understand the role of meteorology in mercury cycling (atmospheric pathways), the inter-annual variability of mercury and can be evaluated against observations on global scales.
Journal ArticleDOI
A kinetic study of the gas-phase reaction between the hydroxyl radical and atomic mercury
TL;DR: In this paper, the kinetics of the gas phase reaction between atomic mercury and hydroxyl radical has been determined at room temperature and atmospheric pressure of air by relative rate technique, and the rate coefficient obtained was k(Hg 0 + · OH )=(8.7±2.8)×10 −14 cm 3 s −1 leading to natural lifetimes of mercury at global mean conditions of 4-7 month due to this reaction.
Journal ArticleDOI
Modern and historic atmospheric mercury fluxes in northern Alaska: Global sources and Arctic depletion
William F. Fitzgerald,Daniel R. Engstrom,Carl H. Lamborg,Chun-Mao Tseng,Prentiss H. Balcom,Chad R. Hammerschmidt +5 more
TL;DR: Recovering from lake-sediment archives atmospheric Hg deposition to Arctic Alaska over the last several centuries and constrain a contemporary lake/watershed mass-balance with real-time measurement of Hg fluxes in rainfall, runoff, and evasion indicates anthropogenic Hg impact in the Arctic is of similar magnitude to that at temperate latitudes.
Journal ArticleDOI
The role of mercury redox reactions in snow on snow-to-air mercury transfer.
TL;DR: The snow-to-air Hg transfer observed in this study suggests that the massive Hg deposition events observed in springtime in northern environments may have less impact than previously anticipated, since once deposited, Hg could be rapidly reduced and re-emitted.